Sex racket busted at Calangute, 14 rescued, 9 arrested

PANAJI: Crime branch on Monday rescued 14 girls, who were allegedly forced into prostitution under the pretext of providing them with jobs, and arrested nine persons in a raid on Club Virgin at Calangute. All rescued victims have been sent to the protective home, Merces.

Police officials said that after getting information from reliable sources, a crime branch team raided the club and found that 14 girls were forced into prostitution. Police also arrested nine persons: Ganti Phande, 54, of Madhya Pradesh; Abhishek Gupta, 28, of Calangute; Sonu Alam, 24, of Bihar; Shailendra Thorat, 23, of Madhya Pradesh; Dipak Thakur of BorivaliMumbai; Sunil Bhomkar, 25, of Tisk-Usgao, Ponda; Saimulla Balhari, 19, of Hubli-Karnataka; Pramod Pradhan of Orissa and Jiwan Pawar, 23, of Karwar, Karnataka.

They were arrested under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956, said police sources. “All the accused have been produced before JMFC, Mapusa, and sent to three days police custody,” said sources.

Police sources also said that the accused persons were managing Club Virgin at Gauravaddo, Calangute. “All accused were totally dependant on the earnings from the prostitution business,” he added.

Sources said that the 14 women were brought to Goa under the pretext of providing them with jobs and were forced into prostitution activities against their will. “Eight victims are from Nepal, two each from Karnataka and Mumbai and one each from Madhya Pradesh and Goa, who had married out of state,” said police sources. The case is being investigated by police inspector Sudesh Naik under the supervision of deputy superintendent of police S Sawant.